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Theresa May is in a stand-off with Downing Street over stop-and-search powers
used by police.

The Home Secretary wanted to announce sweeping curbs of the controversial
tactic before Christmas but has been blocked by No 10, senior officials have
told The Times.

The clash threatens to become a battle between David Cameron and Mrs May,
tipped as a potential Conservative Party leader.

Despite her reputation as a hardliner on law and order, Mrs May is said to be
convinced that stop and search, which gives officers wide-ranging powers to
stop people they suspect of criminal conduct, causes too much resentment

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Stop and search has been a weapon in the police armoury since 1824, but it took its current form in 1984 (Richard Ford writes).

After the Brixton riots of 1981, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (Pace) standardised the powers to stop and search people for stolen or prohibited goods in an attempt to end resentment that they were used too extensively against the black community.

The Act said there must be an objective basis for suspicion and that personal factors, such as dress or skin colour, were not sufficient grounds.

To search under Pace, police must have reasonable grounds for suspecting that stolen or prohibited articles will be found.

Despite hopes that the law would end dispute over use of the powers, it remains one of policing’s most contested issues.

Much dispute centres on the continued unequal use against black and Asian people in urban centres.

Black people, and others from minority communities, are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched than white members of the public.